One Step at a Time
by Sisterpups
Summary: When something goes terribly wrong with the experiments aboard the ARK, Gerald sends a baby Shadow the hedgehog to Black Doom for three days, fearing for his safety. Black Doom demises this, but will Shadow be able to lighten his father's dark heart? :FatherXSon family oneshot!:


**A/N: So to help me get back into the groove of writing, I decided to write a quick oneshot. And since I've been playing **_**Shadow the Hedgehog**_** lately, this oneshot revolves around Black Doom's family-relationship with Shadow. I've read a few stories on here with the same topic, and I wanted to create my own version. I'm personally a fan of the idea of Shadow starting out as a child when he was first created, and I wonder just what that would have been like if Black Doom was to watch over him sometime during his youth. Thus, this cute little FatherXSon oneshot was created! Enjoy! I own nothing! Reviews would also be awesome! Thanks for reading!**

"My lord, Project Shadow uh…seems to be requesting your presence." a Black Arms soldier approached Black Doom cautiously.

The alien warlord turned around and narrowed his three eyes menacingly. "What do you mean?" he demanded. "That…that…_brat _was put to sleep hours ago!"

Cowering at the threatening voice, the head of soldiers swallowed. "He…I…I could hear him from the hallway. He sounds as if he's upset." the black and red creature explained.

"Pay no mind." Black Doom growled. "He's caused enough trouble for today." Ignoring the issue, he merely turned back around to face the large window to eye the large planet just below them. Earth.

'_Soon enough…' _the dark alien thought, _'That pathetic planet will be under our control. All I need to do is figure out how to gather the seven chaos-…' _

"B-But sir…?" the soldier's voice squeaked again.

"What is it?!"

"…H-He requires extra attention."

Black Doom shook his head, facing his offspring again. "Then why don't you take care of it then?"

"I do apologize, but Project Shadow was assigned to _you_," the younger alien reminded. "…And he doesn't seem to respond to us as well."

Black Doom hummed in response. Just how much attention does this child need?! He practically brought along Shadow during all of his duties as leader, preparing his soldiers for battle and such. He puts Shadow down to sleep for the remainder of the day and what happens? He wants more attention?!

"May I remind you that Project Shadow isn't like us?" the black and red creature added after a long period of silence. "I mean, in his current state, he's not one of us."

Sighing impatiently, Black Doom closed his eyes and lowered himself onto the ground. A thick puff of red smoke later, and what seemed like the thousandth time that day, he transformed into something that his children rarely seen him as.

A mobian hedgehog, much like Shadow, save for the infamous third eye upon his forehead and different red markings. "Not one of _us_…" the alien muttered as he started walking down the hall again. "You are very much correct…"

It was only a few months ago that Project Shadow was finally complete. On the day of Shadow's 'birth', Professor Gerald had called Black Doom back to the ARK to see the ultimate life form he had helped create. However, there was one misconception that sent alien warlord away, fuming with rage.

Project Shadow was merely a child, an infant for that matter; not this all-powerful, chaos-wielding being that Black Doom was told he was supposed to be! Professor Gerald had failed to inform him of this when he had willingly donated his blood to help give life to this creature. If Black Doom would have known of it before, he knew that he most likely would not have had anything to do with Shadow's genetics.

Black Doom snorted as he passed by many different rooms within the comet. "All he needs to do is age like a normal mobian. That's all," he mimicked the professor's words. He shook his head. "Hmph! That's all, he says…that's all…"

The alien hedgehog paused outside the room he had given Shadow for the last couple days. A few days prior, Gerald had contacted him in frantic worry, explaining to him that something had went terribly wrong with his other experiments, who were created similarly like Shadow. The experiments were rampaging and causing havoc through the ARK and the scientists were desperately trying to contain them once again. Fearing for Shadow's safety, him being just a 'toddler' as the humans called him, Gerald begged Black Doom to take Shadow for just a couple days until they could capture the out of control experiments. Being true to Black Doom's tough nature, he declined. But from the extra persuasion the elderly professor threw at him, the Black Arms leader didn't have much of a choice.

Black Doom shook his head with a quick sigh. He accepted to watch over this young experiment simply because one sentence had appealed to his so-called 'feelings', and he could not clear it from his head.

"_He is, technically, your son." _the professor had said.

Black Doom didn't know why that had stuck with him, besides the fact that it was a true statement. Project Shadow had his blood, his genetics, but ever since first seeing him, Black Doom had no interest in this hedgehog, seeing it's uselessness for the entire first half of it's life. So why he accepted this small job over that one stupid little comment, he'll never know…

He could hear the child in the room crying, as the humans so-called it. He growled irritably. "Just one more day and he'll be back with the humans…" he repeated under his breath.

Deciding to stop wasting any more of his precious time, he slowly opened the door to the child's room. When he entered, he was greeted by more great darkness. The dark never bothered him, considering the fact that the entire Black Comet was nothing but darkness and, because of this, his eyes have adjusted to develop night vision. Very little of his home was 'light', save for the occasional torches lit up in the halls. Despite all of this, Black Doom could still make out the large red orbs in the back of the room staring straight back at him. He never did think about the fact that Shadow probably couldn't see a darn thing around here…

"Shadow…" Black Doom growled, "You were put to sleep for a reason. To be sleeping! Why are you still awake?!"

However, the child continued to weep, a little more quietly this time. He sat down on the thin cushioned mattress, having been standing for a long period of time in the metal crib that Gerald had sent along with him. Black Doom had noticed just how shaky the baby hedgehog was on his legs, as he knew Shadow had yet to learn the concept of walking. The young black and red hedgehog rubbed at his eyes as tears fell endlessly.

'_How can he be powerful if he can't even walk? Let alone talk?!' _

Black Doom's pointed ears fell slightly upon seeing this. Not out of sympathy, but instead impatience.

He walked up to the crib and unlocked the latch holding the one side up. When the side collapsed, Shadow stopped crying and looked back up to meet his father's own eyes. Without warning, the baby hedgehog crawled forward and climbed into the elder's arms. Black Doom's eyes widened slightly from the sudden action, but didn't budge.

'_At least he isn't afraid of me in this form,' _he thought to himself. When Shadow was given to Black Doom, the child cried in fear for hours on end until the alien finally picked up the reason why; Shadow was simply afraid of him. Thus, he figured out how to transform himself into a mobian hedgehog, still as intimidating as ever but to Shadow, it was more comforting. Now when Black Doom thought about what his head soldier had said earlier about Shadow not 'responding as well to them', it all started to make sense. Of course, the transformation process wasn't all that easy. Black Doom could practically transform into anything he desired, however, it just so happens a mobian life form was not. _'He better appreciate this transformation!' _he had thought, _'It took me forever to figure out how to take the form of a hedgehog!'_

Instinctively, he shifted the child in his arms in a more comfortable position and stood still in the same spot. Shadow had quieted down some upon knowing that his father was there. The baby then grasped onto Black Doom's hand tightly.

The alien's eyes widened in surprise from the sudden action. "What is the meaning of this, child?" Black Doom questioned, completely foreign with such affection his son showed him. "I'll have you know I still have important business to attend to. I simply don't have time for this. You don't need me."

He placed Shadow back in the crib and brought the siding back up. Shadow twisted around from where he sat, staring with widened eyes as his father started leaving the room again.

And he did _not _want that to happen.

Almost immediately, Shadow burst into tears again and louder than before. Black Doom cringed at the human-like sound, placing a hand on the doorknob but never really leaving the room. He glanced behind him and sighed in defeat.

"You're not going to let me leave, are you?" he asked. More loud sobbing was his response.

Sighing in an annoyed manner, Black Doom walked back over to the crib and retrieved Shadow once more. The few-month old baby continued to cry even as his father held him.

"Calm down, Shadow! There's nothing to be crying about…" he ordered in the lightest tone he could manage. Shadow didn't seem to listen. He looked up at Black Doom with glistening eyes and a trembling lip, squeezing his father's hand again with both of his tiny hands in fear of him leaving again.

Black Doom scoffed at his youngest child. "Hmph! Ultimate Lifeform? Please…do I look like a fool?" he asked. Shadow's now mild cries were silenced some when his father started speaking to him.

He snorted again. "What are you supposed to be besides a hedgehog? Not an all powerful being, that's certain!" he exclaimed. "Look at you. You're not even intimidating enough to be a part of the Black Arms!" The alien used two fingers to hold up Shadow's stubby hands. "You have no claws," he used another finger to gently open the child's mouth, "You have no fangs…How in _chaos _would you protect yourself from threats?!"

Shadow began to giggle through his drying tears at his father's comments, oblivious that they were negative. Through his movements, Shadow simply thought of it as playing. He tried to grab Black Doom's hand as it moved, and with one big reach, he grasped onto it again and hugged it, snuggling into it with a content smile.

Black Doom was nonetheless _terrified _by the act of affection, ripping his hand back from the baby's weak grip. Shadow gaped at the sudden action, glancing up to meet another pair of ruby colored eyes. "What are the humans teaching you, child?! Such strange communication!"

Shadow had started to tear up again at the mean tone Black Doom spoke with.

'_This is going to be a long night…' _the alien hedgehog thought to himself wearily.

He decided to take a seat on a nearby chair, feeling the weight of the child starting to pull on his rather thin arms. To provide some sort of light in the room, he had lit a torch in the corner of the room using chaos energy. Perhaps a small amount of light might comfort Shadow's uneasy nerves…

'_Comfort…Just what was that exactly?'_

Though the alien was clueless to such a word, he felt himself instinctively cradling this child in his lap, holding him close to keep him warm in the rather chilly room. Upon seeing young Shadow's distress, Black Doom knew he couldn't just walk away from it. And he hated to admit it, but the sight of one of his own in such emotional anguish made him feel very much the same.

"I have yet to understand why you are in such emotional distress!" Black Doom spoke. "You have been with your brothers and I all day, not to mention causing nothing but trouble!" he paused to sigh. "Such disobedience!"

Though the child could not walk, it didn't stop him from getting into things that could have been potentially dangerous to him. Black Doom never thought he could feel so much panic in the past couple days! When his father wasn't looking, Shadow had crawled around every room he was brought to, including the Black Comet's control room.

No one ever thought that something as innocent as a child could come into such close contact with something that could easily destroy the Black Comet upon pressing a single button: the notorious self-destruct button. But just in time, Black Doom had snagged Shadow away from the button just before he could lay a stubby finger on it.

'_Why I let my children encourage me to create a self-destruct option will forever be a mystery to me…' _Black Doom had thought.

Much to the Black Arms' relief, Shadow was kept far away from the controls for the remainder of his stay, for their sake _and _their home's sake.

Despite getting into endless trouble, Black Doom stuck to his word on keeping an eye on the little monster. It was hard to run an entire colony and play babysitter at the same time. Nonetheless, the warlord believed Shadow had received enough attention for one day.

If only he could just get him to stop crying! It surprised Black Doom that such a creature could be so emotional, and with the littlest of things! The ebony hedgehog decided to take a new approach, knowing his last few approaches were a bit harsh. He made his tone a bit softer this time.

"Calm down, Shadow," he said in a quiet and light voice. He took his gloved hand and using his thumb, gently wiped away the fresh new tears staining his son's soaked face. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm here, Shadow."

The baby glanced up at his father and sensing his sincerity, gradually started to quiet down again. A few hiccups escape his lips and though he wasn't sobbing uncontrollably, tears still leaked from his ruby colored eyes. Black Doom continued holding his youngest son close, rubbing his back occasionally, unsure of what to do next.

'_He seems to be calming down…_' he thought with a feeling of relief, '_Perhaps I don't need to do anything else._'

And he assumed right. Simply by just sitting there with him, Shadow finally became completely calm, casting a curious glance at his father every once and a while. And Black Doom would do the same.

It was when the child suddenly started shivering when the alien warlord was distracted from his wondering thoughts. "Are you cold, Shadow?" he asked, even though he expected to not receive an answer. He stood up and walked over to the crib and grabbed the soft, fleece blanket that Shadow slept with. _'What a horrible feeling material!' _he scolded in his mind, _'What do the humans see in such thing?' _When Black Doom sat back down, he wrapped it around Shadow rather awkwardly and even when the child was completely settled within the oversized blanket, Black Doom continued to hold his son warmly.

"You must realize, Shadow, that this is all very… different to me," Black Doom started speaking quietly as young Shadow laid his head on his father's shoulder and started sucking his thumb sleepily. And though he didn't understand what was being said, Shadow listened to his father speak with perked ears.

"You are not like the others. None of your brothers ever needed attention such as this. Then again, none of them started out at this age, either…"

Shadow then started snuggling deeper into his blanket and even his father's robes, feeling safe in his arms. Black Doom took notice to this, but he dared not to get up or put him back in the crib, fearing another round of tears from the little one if he did so.

When the alien looked down, he could see Shadow's tiny fingers fiddling with his ancient necklace curiously. The child brought his thumb out of his mouth and used both hands to hold the moon-like charms with care.

Black Doom smirked. "You like those?" he asked softly. "Those charms are older than even I. They've been passed down through all Black Arms Leaders. Such symbolism they carry…"

Shadow continued to eye the charms with wonder, looking up to Black Doom with a wide grin, showing off a straight row of baby teeth trying to come in.

"When you've been properly trained in the ways of our-…" Black Doom cut himself off. Project Shadow belonged to Gerald and Gerald _only_! Black Doom had made a deal that Shadow would have nothing to do with the Black Arms, despite carrying their blood. To stay true to that, Black Doom decided to keep his history a secret.

"You will never have any use of our history," Black Doom mumbled as Shadow snuggled into his blanket again. The alien's three eyes cast to the ground rather somberly. "After Gerald has controlled the experiments back on the ARK, we will more than likely never see of each other again."

Once again, Shadow had grasped onto his father's arm. This time it was a bit more…comforting to the ebony hedgehog.

Black Doom shook his head from the idea that had hit him. _'What am I thinking?' _he questioned himself. _'Shadow would never be strong enough to be with us. He's better off with weak humans…'_

Although no matter how many times the alien hedgehog repeated that in his mind, he couldn't convince himself of that…lie.

"It must be because you carry our blood," he said quietly. "You have Black Arms in your genes…"

'_He is, technically, your son…' _

To clear his head of that reappearing statement, Black Doom stood up and carried Shadow back over to the metal crib.

"I do believe it is now time for you to go to sleep, little one…" he said as he placed the hedgehog back in the crib. He tapped the child lightly on the nose with his finger, causing Shadow to giggle lightly. "…and actually go to sleep this time."

Laughter…It was so rare to hear that strange sound on the Black Comet. That's excluding laughter of victory or bloodthirsty battles.

This was laughter of pure innocence.

Sighing, Black Doom turned around, back facing Shadow. Crossing his arms, he narrowed his eyes. _'What is this child doing to me?'_

As he made his way over to the doorway again, he froze in his tracks upon hearing Shadow's tiny voice again. He turned around again and stared in disbelief. He had forgotten to put the siding back up on the crib, which gave Shadow access to escape. But that wasn't what surprised him.

Shadow had lowered himself down onto the ground, falling to his knees. Black Doom watched as the young child slowly pushed himself to his feet on a very shaky note, struggling to keep his balance. But after about a minute of flailing his arms about, he managed to keep an acceptable balance.

It was when Shadow lifted his foot off of the ground to place in front of him and repeating the process with his other foot that Black Doom was in utter disbelief.

Shadow had learned to walk!

Black Doom found himself rushing forward to catch the hedgehog when his balance finally gave way. Black Doom assumed that his son would burst into tears again from the fall, but to his surprise, Shadow couldn't have been more happier, eyes shining with happiness and giggling with joy.

"You…you just learned how to walk." Black Doom spoke. _'And not with the professor, but with me!'_

The next few minutes consisted of Shadow trying again and again to walk a longer distance than the last. And Black Doom found himself aiding this child, encouraging him to walk that longer distance each time. He would get on his knees with his arms extended, waiting for Shadow to happily fall into them, squealing with excitement. And although it was deemed impossible, Black Doom found himself doing something he never thought he'd see himself doing.

Smiling a true, rare smile of happiness.

'_Shadow is only but a few months old, and already knows how to walk? I can just imagine what he'll be capable of doing when he turns a year old!' _Black Doom thought in absolute wonder. _'Perhaps…Gerald was right about you, Shadow…'_

Black Doom had discovered that as the two had spent the next half hour practicing walking, it was the ticket to getting Shadow to finally fall asleep. The young child had finally collapsed on his rear, rubbing his eyes and yawning tiredly, unable to take another step.

Black Doom found himself smiling again as he put the child back to bed, covering him up with the horrible-feeling fleece blanket (He will never accept the human's customs of comfort within these blankets). He quietly locked the lock tightly on the crib and simply stood there watching his youngest son sleep peacefully. Black Doom hated to admit it, but after what had just happened, he had a different view of Shadow. Not only did Shadow just prove how quickly he can learn, but he proved his role in the Black Arms family. The Black Arms would be pleased to accept Shadow as their sibling, and Black Doom would be equally happy with calling this young experiment his son.

"Perhaps having another addition to the family wouldn't be too bad of an option…" Black Doom spoke quietly. "If what the professor says is true, you will eventually become the most powerful creature ever known; the ultimate life form. All you need to do is age like a normal mobian hedgehog, that's all"

He stroked his son's ears before heading back to the doorway. "…that's all."


End file.
